Kinesins are motor proteins that use adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to bind to microtubules and generate mechanical force. Kinesins are characterized by a motor domain having about 350 amino acid residues. The crystal structures of several kinesin motor domains have been resolved.
Currently, about one hundred kinesin-related proteins (KRP) have been identified. Kinesins are involved in a variety of cell biological processes including transport of organelles and vesicles, and maintenance of the endoplasmatic reticulum. Several KRPs interact with the microtubules of the mitotic spindle or with the chromosomes directly, and appear to play a pivotal role during the mitotic stages of the cell cycle. These mitotic KRPs are of particular interest for the development of cancer therapeutics.
Kinesin spindle protein (KSP) (also known as Eg5, HsEg5, KNSL1, or KIFII) is one of several kinesin-like motor proteins that are localized to the mitotic spindle and known to be required for formation and/or function of the bipolar mitotic spindle.
In 1995, the depletion of KSP using an antibody directed against the C-terminus of KSP was shown to arrest HeLa cells in mitosis with monoastral microtubule arrays (Blangy et al., Cell 83:1159-1169, 1995). Mutations in bimC and cut7 genes, which are considered to be homologues of KSP, cause failure in centrosome separation in Aspergillus Nidulans (Enos, A. P., and N. R. Morris, Cell 60:1019-1027, 1990) and Schizosaccharomyces Pombe (Hagan, I., and M. Yanagida, Nature 347:563-566, 1990). Treatment of cells with either ATRA (all trans-retinoic acid), which reduces KSP expression on protein level, or depletion of KSP using antisense oligonucleotides revealed a significant growth inhibition in DAN-G pancreatic carcinoma cells indicating that KSP might be involved in the antiproliferative action of all trans-retinoic acid (Kaiser, A., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274, 18925-18931, 1999). Interestingly, the Xenopus Laevis Aurora-related protein kinase pEg2 was shown to associate and phosphorylate XlEg5 (Giet, R., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274:15005-15013, 1999). Potential substrates of Aurora-related kinases are of particular interest for cancer drug development. For example, Aurora 1 and 2 kinases are overexpressed on protein and RNA level and the genes are amplified in colon cancer patients.
The first cell permeable small molecule inhibitor for KSP, “monastrol,” was shown to arrest cells with monopolar spindles without affecting microtubule polymerization as do conventional chemotherapeutics such as taxanes and vinca alkaloids (Mayer, T. U., et al., Science 286:971-974, 1999). Monastrol was identified as an inhibitor in phenotype-based screens and it was suggested that this compound may serve as a lead for the development of anticancer drugs. The inhibition was determined not to be competitive in respect to adenosine triphosphate and to be rapidly reversible (DeBonis, S., et al., Biochemistry 42:338-349, 2003; Kapoor, T. M., et al., J. Cell Biol. 150:975-988, 2000).
Recently, other KSP kinesin inhibitors have been described. WO 02/057244 and WO 02/056880 describe phenothiazine compounds and triphenylmethane compounds, respectively, for treating proliferative diseases. WO 02/078639 describes cyano-substituted dihydropyrimidine compounds for treating proliferative diseases. U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,521 describes oligonucleotides and oligonucleotide derivatives for inhibiting human KSP expression.
WO 01/98278, WO 01/30768, and WO 03/039460 describe quinazolinone compounds that are useful in treating cellular proliferative diseases associated with KSP activity. The compounds described in these references are 2-(2-aminomethyl)quinazolinone derivatives. The quinazolinone compounds described in WO 01/98278 and WO 01/30768 have 2-aminomethyl substituents that are either amine, amide, or sulfonamide substituents. The quinazolinone compounds described in WO 03/039460 have the amino group of the 2-aminomethyl substituent incorporated into a 5-12 membered nitrogen-containing heterocycle.
WO 03/050064 describes thienopyrimidinone compounds that are useful for treating cellular proliferative disease, for treating disorders associated with KSP activity, and for inhibiting KSP.
WO 03/103575 describes heterocyclic-fused pyrimidinone derivatives that are inhibitors of the mitotic KSP and that are useful in the treatment of cellular proliferative diseases.
Tetrahydrocarbolines have been used as topoisomerase II inhibitors, protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) inhibitors, and phosphodiesterase inhibitors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,060 describes azatoxin and derivatives as antitumor drugs that are topoisomerase II inhibitors. WO 03/033496 describes beta-carboline derivatives as anticancer drugs that are protein tyrosine phosphatases inhibitors. U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,150 describes beta-carboline derivatives bearing at least a free or esterified carboxylic group on the piperidine ring that have antimetastatic properties. WO 01/87038 describes beta-carboline derivatives for the treatment of diseases and conditions related to phosphodiesterase inhibitors (PDE) such as male erectile dysfunction.